Cook It - Home-Ec 101

Microwave Rice: Quick Tip

Heather says: Last night all four of my burners were full. There was gumbo and etouffee, collard greens and oil to fry beignets, but I forgot the plain rice. My stepfather commented something along the lines of just microwave it. I must have given him a funny look in between turning beignets. I figured what …

Heather says: I can’t remember the last time I made country fried steak for dinner. Heck, it’s been a long time since I’ve fried anything, the last frying adventure was when I made fried chicken thighs almost a year ago. -Running this site, makes it pretty easy to keep tabs on our lives. So don’t …

Why Does My Chicken Stock Taste Like Water?

Dear Home-Ec 101, I made chicken stock, but I can’t figure out why the broth tasted like water. Do you have any advice? Thanks! Why does my chicken stock taste like water? Did you follow the instructions here on Home-Ec101 or from somewhere else? In general, the answer is pretty straightforward. You probably used —wait …

How to Poach an Egg

Heather says: We’re huge fans of eggs in our house, with growing kids and a busy schedule, they are one of the fastest and most economical forms of protein we keep on hand. Throw in the fact that there are hundreds of ways to cook eggs and we’re sold. Learning how to poach an egg …

Why Am I Burning Food?

Dear Home-Ec 101, I have an All-Clad stainless steel skillet, and I can’t seem to cook anything in it without burning the food. Last night, I cooked pork chops in it. I heated the pan on high, put a little olive oil, and put the pork chops in. The areas between the chops turned black quickly, and started …

Recipes That Translate

Heather says: In January Angela England and I launched #HomeChat, a weekly, hour-long Twitter chat where we discuss various topics and techniques valuable to most adults. It happens on Tuesdays at 9:00pm Eastern, 6:00 Pacific. We tend to alternate between food and other life skills. Tonight we’ll be discussing basic recipes that translate into many …

Should I Boil My Ribs?

Dear Home Ec 101, I have been told to boil ribs before grilling them. Is this a good way to cook ribs? Signed, Grilling in Greenville Lots of cookbooks recommend parboiling pork ribs before grilling, which speeds up the process. However, there is a cost, and that’s flavor. Additionally, the advice is sort of misleading. …

How to Cook Steak Properly

Brian says: As I mentioned in my last post, there are a great deal of people out there who cook their steaks half to death with the slightest bit of remorse. At first I was just going to let it go, hoping to play the ignorance-is-bliss card but I just can’t let it stand, people! …

Bran says: I thought I hated brussels sprouts. I think a lot of us have felt that way. After all, to many people, the boiled things that get served up to us as children, sodden and vaguely buttered, are not exactly the most appetizing of vegetables. But brussels sprouts can be a great winter green, …

How to Butterfly or Spatchcock a Chicken

Heather says:

Did you know there’s a way to increase the amount of crisp skin on your chicken while decreasing the cook time? I tell the truth, you just use a five minute technique called Spatchcocking -that sounds dirty, doesn’t it?- or butterflying and you’ll greatly increase the surface area of your roast chicken. Not only is the surface area increased, but the amount of meat in direct contact with the cooking surface -in our case a baking sheet- is also increased. Both of these conditions work together to reduce the overall cook time of your bird and keep any skin out of the pan juices.

This technique cuts the cook time for a 3 .5 – 5lb bird down to around 50 minutes. Now you don’t have to save your chicken for Sunday afternoon. Who knew?

As a courtesy to vegetarian Home Ec 101 readers, I’ll go ahead and hide the rest of this post behind a jump. Just click more, if you want to see the tutorial.